Yale moves to drop museum suits

Yale moves to drop museum suits Nora Caplan-Bricker – Yale Daily News – October 27, 2009

The University filed one motion Oct. 5 to dismiss Pierre Konowaloff’s claim to ownership of “The Night Café,” a painting by Vincent Van Gogh housed in the permanent collection of the Yale University Art Gallery, and another on Oct. 16 to dismiss the Republic of Peru’s suit for the return of Inca artifacts housed in the Peabody Museum of Natural History.

-Tanya

Yale Fight for Van Gogh’s ‘Night Cafe’ May Open More Battles

The great-grandson of collector Ivan Morozov, from whom Van Gogh’s ‘Night Cafe’ was stolen by the Bolshevik government after the 1917 revolution,  has filed suit against Yale claiming rightful ownership.

So whose is it? That turns on the legitimacy of the Bolshevik government and its acts: a matter for international lawyers. Though, I might add, if the world’s museums were to disgorge all the works that have in the past been stolen by armies or expropriated by revolutionary regimes there are going to be an awful lot of gaps. The National Gallery in London and the Hermitage both have works looted by Napoleonic troops; the Louvre and Prado are full of works from the collection of Charles I, sold off by Cromwell’s government. And so on, and on.

Yale Fight for Van Gogh’s ‘Night Cafe’ May Open More Battles Martin Gayford Bloomberg 6/30/09

-Chris

Yale sues to keep “The Night Cafe”

Picture from Dannman’s

Yale sues to keep artwork – Danika Fears and Harrison Korn – Yale Daily News – March 25, 2009

Yale filed suit Monday against Pierre Konowaloff, who claims to be the rightful owner of Vincent van Gogh’s renowned 1888 painting “The Night Café,” which is housed in the Yale University Art Gallery.

According to the suit, filed in the United States District Court in Connecticut, Konowaloff claims to be the heir of Ivan Morozov, a Russian aristocrat who owned the painting in 1918. Last July, Konowaloff’s attorney sent a letter to Jock Reynolds, director of the Yale University Art Gallery, threatening legal action, according to the suit. Yale will fight to keep the painting, Reynolds told the News on Tuesday night.

-Tanya

Inaugural show at the new School of Art Gallery

Thomas McDonald for The New York Times

“The inaugural show in the gallery, ‘Shifting Shapes — Unstable Signs,’ brings to New Haven works by 13 artists and one artists’ collective from India and the Indian diaspora. It was organized by Mr. Storr and Jaret Vadera, a student in the School of Art, and focuses on works that manipulate signs and symbols of cultural, national and gender identity. All told it is a handsome, thoughtful exhibition that feels both relevant and timely.”

“Shifting Shapes — Unstable Signs,” the School of Art Gallery, Yale University School of Art, 32 Edgewood Avenue, New Haven, through Feb. 27. Information: (203) 432-2605.

For a Fresh Gallery Space, Contemporary Indian Art Benjamin Genocchio NYT 2/20/09

More here, here and here.

Posted by Chris

‘Newly found’ Caravaggios on show

Two newly discovered paintings by the Italian artist Caravaggio will go on display in Scotland for the first time.The pictures were among several cleaned in a conservation studio for the exhibition at the Queen’s Gallery at Edinburgh’s Palace of Holyroodhouse.

During that process, specialists found that two paintings thought to be copies of lost originals had actually been painted by the 17th Century artist.

‘Newly found’ Caravaggios on show BBC News 11/12/08

Posted by Chris

First Doubt

“My morning at the press preview of ‘First Doubt: Optical Confusion in Modern Photography’ was like something out of an episode of ‘Gossip Girl.’”

Trust your first doubt at YUAG Lauren Motzkin Yale Daily News October 10, 2008

Posted by: Tanya

Lia Halloran, “Dark Skate”

Dark Skate/Backyard, Courtesy DCKT Contemporary

Lia Halloran is not your typical skater girl. The daughter of a scientist, she was featured in Thrasher magazine at age 16, and went on to get an M.F.A. from Yale University’s department of painting and printmaking. These cosmic forces collided when she received a grant to study the night sky with scientists in Chile in 2000.

Lia Halloran, “Dark Skate” Time Out New York Sept 4-10, 2008

Check out some of Halloran’s work at DCKT Contemporary here.

Posted by Chris

Whee

“A giant inflatable dog turd by American artist Paul McCarthy blew away from an exhibition in the garden of a Swiss museum, bringing down a power line and breaking a greenhouse window before it landed again….”

Flying piece of art causes museum chaos in Switzerland August 11, 2008 AFP, Yahoo News
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Update (7/9/2009) For those drawn here by rickh’s link on Dave Barry’s blog (Thanks for stopping by!) here’s a more about the story (esp. as the yahoo link above seems to be no-more):

Complex Shit Wreaks Havoc in Switzerland Dog Art Today 8/11/2008

According to some reports, the runaway inflatable sculpture also broke the window of a children’s home.

More: Giant dog turd wreaks havoc at Swiss museum Guardian 8/12/08
Posted by: Tanya

Van Gogh’s hidden woman

Portrait of Woman Revealed Beneath Van Gogh Painting LiveScience via Yahoo News. 7.30.08

“A previously unknown portrait of a woman by Vincent van Gogh has been revealed in a high-tech look beneath another of his paintings, it was announced today.

“Scientists used a new technique to peer beneath the paint of van Gogh’s ‘Patch of Grass.’ Already it was known there was something there, likely a portrait of some sort. Van Gogh was known to paint over his work, perhaps as much as a third of the time.”

Posted by Tanya

Call to end appeasement of art thieves

In a good article highlighting the growing problem of art theft, Geoffrey Clarfield criticizes what he calls a policy of “appeasement” that encourages crime and manages to throw in a jab at Yale for waiting over a century before returning artifacts stolen from Machu Picchu.

Art owners and museums still pay huge ransoms for stolen art. Our publicly funded museums and private auction houses have encouraged illegal trade by buying imported antiquities and muddling their provenance. Anyone who buys antiquities smuggled out of Iraq is indirectly paying for the civil war there.

In the 1930s, the British had a word for such behaviour, “appeasement.” It would be wise for museums and the public to reject and actively oppose this underground trade and its addiction to paid ransoms.

Stop the appeasement of art and antiques thieves Geoffrey Clarfield Globe and Mail 7/5/08

Posted by Chris

Great British Watercolors from the Paul Mellon Collection @ YCBA

Image: Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection

Great British Watercolors from the Paul Mellon Collection at the Yale Center for British Art ArtDaily.org

“In a period of little over fifteen years, beginning in the early 1960s, Mr. Mellon assembled one of the world’s greatest collections of British drawings and watercolors. As part of his extensive collecting, he purchased several distinguished private collections of British watercolors, enriching and expanding them with astute purchases reflecting his own taste… Through his beneficent gift of his collection to Yale, the Center houses more than 50,000 drawings, watercolors, and printsthe largest and most representative collection of British art on paper outside the United Kingdom.”

Signals and Noise Blog!

Check out Tom MacMillan’s excellent blog covering art and music in New Haven, Signals and Noise.

He recently covered the Olive Tree Circus’ (seen above) fund raiser for their trip to Palestine. More on the circus here.

Posted by Chris

India’s warrior king Shivaji statue to rival Statue of Liberty

India plans huge ‘liberty’ statue Prachi Pinglay BBCNews 6/3/08

“The statue will be of the Maratha warrior king Shivaji, considered a hero in Maharashtra for his defiance of Mughal and British forces… Vishal Dhage, a state government official, said the statue would be about the same height as the Statue of Liberty – which, with plinth included, stands at 305ft (92.69m).”

Posted by Chris

Robert Rauschenberg is dead at 82

Image: Tony Cenicola/The New York Times

Robert Rauschenberg, Titan of American Art, Is Dead at 82 Michael Kimmelman NYT 5/14/08

New Haven Mayor’s Community Arts Grant

The Mayor’s Community Arts Grants Program has been designed to support the community by providing financial, marketing and technical assistance for arts and cultural related programs, projects and events which occur in New Haven neighborhoods.

Individuals who are presenting, teaching or practicing artists and non-profit arts organizations working with neighborhood-based community and/or youth or senior groups in the City of New Haven. Eligible activities include: festivals, parades, exhibitions, murals/public art, children’s activities, inter-generational programs, arts education, film, public performances, neighborhood collaborations and apprenticeships.

The application deadline is June 4, 2008. A total of $25,000 will be awarded through grants up to $2,000. The grant application package is available for download on the City’s website, visit this website. For more information about the program, please contact Kim Futrell at (203) 946-7172 or kfutrell@newhavenct.net.

Press release here.